Solderless wire connection



March 3, 1936. ROWE 2,032,769

SOLDERLESS WIRE CONNECTI ON Filed Aug. 7, 1953 INVENTOR RAYMOND Patented Mar. 3, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE r SOLDERLESS WIRE CONNECTION Raymond N. Rowe, Plainville, Conn., assignor to The Trumbull Electric Manufacturing Company, Plainville, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application August}, 1933, Serial No. 683,943 1 Claim. (CL 173-269) Another object is to provide a construction of this character which may be readily and securely attached to an electric wire or cable.

Another object is to provide a construction of this kind which may be readily disconnected from a wire or cable if so desired.

A special object is to provide a construction in which the wire may be securely anchored to the lug and the lug may be clamped to.the terminal of a switch or other electrical device.

Another object is to provide a type of solderless lug or connector which may be firmly secured in position by threading or screwing it on to the end of the wire or cable and to provide clamping means in addition to the threading means.

In carrying out the invention I preferably form the connector of a single piece of metal having a body portion for attachment to a switch terminal or the like and a socket portion for receiving the end of a wire or cable.

The body portion has two extension lugs which are spaced slightly apart from each other in parallel relation and the body of the socket portion is partially slotted lengthwise so that in effect two spaced apart jaws are provided. These extension lugs are perforated for mounting the lug on a device terminal by means of a screw' or bolt and a nut which makes it possible to force the lugs together and clamp the wire in the socket portion. The socket is interiorly provided with roughened portions preferably in the form of a tapered screw thread which is adapted to be threaded or screwed on to the end of the wire or cable so as to provide a positive anchorage for the wire in addition'to the vise-like clamping of the wire in-the slotted end of the lug.

' Fig. 1 is a side view of the terminal involving my invention mounted on a support which is shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the connector showing the method of applying it to a wire.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the connector applied to the end of the wire or cable but separate from the support and with the terminal ends of the lug forced apart in angular relation by the forced insertion of the cable into the lug.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a connector embodying my invention.

Fig. is a view similar to Fig. 3 of a modification. I

Fig. 6 is a section onthe line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

I have shown a wire or cable end 1 of the mul-- tiple strand type provided with an insulating cover 8 but it will be understood that the invention relates to the connector rather than to the wire per se.

The connector is preferably formed of a single piece of metal having a socket portion 9 and two simultaneously cutting or forming a like thread on to the end of the relatively soft wire or cable. I The two lugs I0, II] are spaced apart from each other by a slot l2 which extends partway of the length of the socketleaving a continuous annular wire receiving opening I3 50 that the rear end of the socket portion and the extension lugs form a pair of jaws which are adapted to be forced together so as to grip o'r clamp the end of the wire. The lugs Ill, III are provided with holes l4 adapted to receive an attaching screw or bolt l5 by means of which the lug or connector is adapted to be secured to a bus bar,,a switch terminal l6, or other like electrical connection, the latter usually being mounted on an insulating block or panel H. A nut I8 is mounted on the end of the bolt [5 to secure the parts in-place.

The thread in the socket portion II is preferably tapered so that the lug can be readily screwed in Fig. 3, and the slots in the lug assisting in the mechanical action similar to that of ,a threading die.

To apply the lug or connector it is merely necessary to insert the end of the wire 1 into the socket into parallel relation and the jaw portions l9 tightly grip the end of the wire so that it is impossible to pull the wire out of the lug with any ordinary force. An effective electrical and meon to the end of the wire 1, the teeth of the threads biting into the softer metal of the wire as shown. 4

chanical connection is thus provided without the use of solder. Y

The clamping action of the slotted end of the socket also has a locking .efi'ect on the cable which is illustrated in Fig. 6, where it will be noted that the internal transverse contour of the socket is forced from a true circle to an ellipse, due to the clamping action 01' the bolt, thereby preventing the turning of the cable or wire end within the socket.

In the form shown in Fig. 5 the threaded portion 20 or the socket is shown of a uniform diameter and in this case the end of the wire 2| has been tapered for the purpose of facilitating its insertion into the socket. This construction, it will be understood, is intended to be mounted on an attaching screw or bolt as previously described, in which event the lugs l0, l0 are adapted to be drawn together so as to securely clamp the end of the wire.

From the foregoing it will be clear that I have provided a means for threading a wire lug onto the end or a wire or cable without the use of dies or threading tools and have also provided further means for clamping the lug and the wire into both mechanical and electrical engagement.

I claim:

A one-piece solderless wire'terminal having a contact foot portion adapted to be seated upon a suitable correlated terminal and a projecting tubular portion adapted to receive one end of an electric cable, said contact foot portion and the major part ofthe projecting tubular portion being slotted with a continuous slot andsaid tubular portion being interiorly threaded with a tapered thread by means of which the entrance of a cable into the tubular Portion of the terminal will cause the opposite sides of the foot portion to open as the wire is forced into position and a clamping means for closing said slotted portions into engagement with the cable and also seeming said terminal in operative position.

RAYMOND N. ROWE. 

